This is going to shock a lot of you, given the steady flow of coffee you’ve watched me drink day after day, but try to stay calm.
I’m drinking tea, and lots of it.
Mood music:
[spotify:track:4NlR3rwvLtLcLuKZxIiYp4]
This change wasn’t planned. No doctor told me to do it or risk a heart attack. And I haven’t given up my beloved java.
In recent days, I’ve started splitting the day between coffee and tea: coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon and evening.
For whatever reason, I really started to crave tea Saturday afternoon. It could be because my mindfulness teacher keeps telling the class to “have tea with your problems” or “tea with your dragon.” When you have an addictive personality like mine, the more someone repeats something like that, the more you start to want it. It’s why I can’t hang out with people who want to talk about nothing but boozing. Before long, I start jonesing for a bottle.
I got home that afternoon and had some green tea. Later, I had some chamomile. It felt good. I felt more at ease. A new afternoon-evening habit was born.
Those who know me well know how much I love caffeine. Coffee is the main delivery system, along with Red Bull, though I haven’t had the latter for a couple weeks now. I simply haven’t felt like having it.
There’s a stupid part of me that sometimes resists change because I’ve spent so much time building up an image. Admittedly, I like the sober, bitter-coffee-swilling hardcore image I’ve built for myself. But the smarter part of me knows that it’s always best to try new things and expand one’s horizons. That’s why I started playing guitar again after nearly 20 years. Playing is quickly becoming my main addiction and I’m fine with that, because it means I’m not burying my face behind the laptop screen as much as I used to. I discovered Saturday that tea goes really good with guitar playing.
So here I am, drinking tea and coffee. Turns out, there’s plenty of room in the day for both.
Just as long as the writer doesn’t drink all the editor’s tea. —The Editor
